Portland immigration Directer David Beebe believes an investigation will show that his officers should not have strip-searched a Chinese businesswoman last week, documents released Friday reveal.

Beebe, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service district director in Portland, described his conclusion in a letter of apology he sent Thursday to a lawyer representing the woman, who was made to strip to her underwear. The Oregonian obtained a copy of the letter and other documents through a request filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

"I am quite certain," Beebe wrote, "that the investigative report of findings will establish that the officers had insufficient suspicion (based upon articulable facts) following a 'pat down' to support a determination that a strip-search was necessary."

The INS Office of Internal Audit is conducting the investigation into the treatment of Guo Liming, 36, whom inspectors jailed for two nights on suspicion that her passport was doctored. Inspectors released Guo on Monday after determining her passport was valid. Guo's case, coming after months of controversy over INS conduct at Portland International Airport, triggered a firestorm of protests from Northwest politicians, who called for Beebe's replacement.

Beebe's boss, Johnny Williams, INS Western regional director, will meet with Northwest elected officials at 2 p.m. Monday at the airport. The meeting will be closed to the public under an agreement between the INS and Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., who will host the event.

The case file released Friday revealed that Guo told inspectors she tried to get her passport replaced after Hong Kong immigration officials found it suspicious earlier. But mainland Chinese officials told her the passport was valid and that if she replaced it she would have to apply for another U.S. visa, a time-consuming process.

Earlier, Beebe blamed Guo publicly for failing to replace the passport. But in his letter, Beebe apologized to Guo for the strip-search and for his officers' failure to tell Chinese officials and her fiance that she was in jail in The Dalles.

Beebe's deputies declined to make the officer who conducted the strip-search available for an interview Friday with The Oregonian, saying that it would

interfere with the investigation.

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's office will soon inform Gov. John Kitzhaber and others who have requested a separate Justice Department investigation whether that inquiry will occur. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., will attempt to amend a bill in order to call on Reno to ensure that INS enforcement practices in Portland are consistent with practices elsewhere on the Pacific Coast.

Beebe responded to another complaint Friday, this one registered by the conductor of the Oregon Symphony.

James DePreist, who is African American, and his wife, Ginette, who is white, said they arrived for an interview at the INS office in Portland on Thursday as part of her application for U.S. citizenship. The conductor said that an INS interviewer called his wife's name and, when she stood up, asked, "Which one of you is Ginette?"

DePreist said he sensed that the interviewer jumped to the conclusion that he -- the black man -- was applying for citizenship, not the white woman.

"It's the kind of thing that people of color run into all the time," DePreist said. "We were both shocked at first and then bemused and then annoyed."

Beebe apologized to the DePreists on Friday and is investigating the matter.